10/25/2017 In the summer of 2014, I learned a long-time friend and mentor had passed away months ago and I was one of the last to know because my family is military and moves. 2 friends each thought the other had told me. So when I found out, I was not only devastated to lose a woman who helped bring me to church, but I felt like I had somehow been cheated a part of my life once again by the fact that I have been a Navy dependent (child and spouse) my entire life. I was angry! I was bereft… And that channeled into what if the same thing happened to Elizabeth Bennet?
Out of my pain and loss came one of my favorite series to write. I am working on Book 6 as we speak.
XOXOXO Elizabeth Ann West
Chapter 8 - A January for Jane, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
A surround of screaming woke Jane from her rest. Thrusting the covers of her bed to the side, she grabbed her robe and shrugged it on as her door burst open.
“Milady, milady! Please, please follow me.” Alice’s face glistened with perspiration in the light of the candle she held. Jane’s eyes had only begun to adjust to the darkness, her initial reaction a practiced movement fueled by the adrenaline of a young mother. She had even sidestepped the bassinet no longer in her room.
“Where’s Robin? Is he well?”
“Tis not the babe, but Her, Her . . .” The maid stumbled in voicing the courtesy for their guest.
Jane pinched her cheeks and pushed her shoulders back. “See to Robin, make sure he is well. I will go to Her Grace.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Alice curtsied and left her mistress.
Jane quietly opened the door to her unexpected, most unpleasant guest and peered inside. Moonlight illuminated the banshee tossing and turning in the elegant bed. The Duchess’ face contorted and she screeched at Jane as she walked directly to the tray for more of the fake laudanum.
“You did this to me! It burns, and you care not. I demand Dr. Simpson! This instant.”
Jane offered the spoon full of a straight dose, but the Duchess grabbed the bottle from her other hand.
“No, you mustn’t!” Jane pleaded, playing her part of struggling for the bottle, but Aileena Hamilton proved surprisingly strong. She rolled away from Jane and drank a deep draught or two for good measure before guardedly clutching the bottle to her chest.
“Your Grace that is too much all at once!”
“Silence, girl! You didn’t give me enough last time. I told you. You may leave. I will take it from here.”
Jane stared at the woman defiantly as she walked over to the far side of the room and dragged a chair to the bedside.
“I shall not. Not until you relinquish the bottle. You shall not kill yourself under my sister’s roof.” Wondering how lucid the woman truly was, Jane did not have to wait long for her answer.
“Tartly little thing, but no matter. Harper has already sent for the Doctor. He came in here before you.” The Duchess took another swig of the laudanum bottle and Jane could no longer enforce the ruse. If Harper indeed ran for the doctor, all would be lost.
Looking to the door and back at her patient and then to the door again, Jane furrowed her brow in confusion. She could recall Mr. Jones saying until the opiates were out of the system, you could not trust anything a man or woman said. They would do or say anything to get their medication. In this case, though, Aileena Hamilton thought she held laudanum in her hands, so she would say anything to get Jane to leave her with the bottle. But what if she told the truth as well?
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Chapter 8 (cont'd) - A January for Jane, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
Deciding the Duchess safe with the fake bottle, Jane rose from her chair to the Duchess’ cackles. She locked the door behind her and prayed she was not making a mistake.
“Harper! Harper!” Jane did not wait until but a few steps into the flight downstairs before demanding the male head of household show himself. Ultimately, the panic brought about by the Duchess’ demands and behavior led her to find Mrs. Buchanan and Harper in a heated discussion at the foot of the stairs.
“Miss Bennet, we must send for Dr. Simpson!” Harper pleaded as Mrs. Buchanan railed at him with quite the opposite conclusion. Jane caught her breath and shuddered at the eerie atmosphere the main hallway gave in partial darkness. Silver moonlight from the windows high above her head exaggerated the shadows of picture frames and suits of armor.
“Heavens no we cannot call the doctor! To give her the opiate now would render our work thus far for naught,” said Mrs. Buchanan.
“But the doctor—”
“That doctor killed my sister and Robin nearly followed her to her grave on his expertise!” Jane’s words were harsher than any slander the two servants would make against Dr. Simpson.
Mr. Harper winced, but the countenance of both women remained firm. Jane, taking some comfort from her ally, became grateful for the housekeeper’s stalwart support.
“Dr. Simpson will not step foot in this house again so long as I am in charge. At least not to perform the medical arts.” Jane’s voice cracked at the proclamation, the emotion of that fateful night last summer threatening to overwhelm her with its echo.
“She needs her medicine. It is killing her she says. Perhaps we could send for her maid at Gododdin?” Harper’s concern for a woman in agony, as the Duchess continued her wails from above, did not move his mistress’ heart. Jane wouldn’t be surprised if the woman had downed the entire bottle of sugar syrup.
“Mr. Harper, you may send for Her Grace’s staff . . . in the morning.” Mrs. Buchanan pronounced the compromise as a loud crash sounded. “And fetch Seamus and Colin. Then decide if you shall retire or guard the door. Miss Bennet?”
Jane nodded and lifted her skirts to turn on her heel. Mrs. Buchanan would not abandon her.
The pair rushed back upstairs towards the guest suite to placate Graham’s mother. Jane unlocked the door only to slam it closed once more as an object hit the wall with a thundering crash followed by the tinkling of glass falling upon the floor.
Pressing her forehead against the door, Jane sighed.
“Why didn’t I think to empty the room?”
“No use worrying about that now, we shall tie her to the bed if need be and remove all of the dangers.” Mrs. Buchanan brushed Jane aside and bravely flung open the door.
“Milady, you must be getting back to bed.” The kind Scotswoman distracted the older, frail woman no longer in her right mind as the symptoms of withdrawal overwhelmed Her Grace. Mrs. Buchanan’s hands were lifted in a gentle sign of surrender, prepared for any reaction by the Duchess.
“Graham? GRAHAM!” Aileena Hamilton’s eyes wandered wildly about the room and Jane stepped forward to explain.
WHAT A DEAL!
A kiss at the Netherfield Ball . . .
Three Dates with Mr. Darcy is a bundle of: An exclusive story, Much to Conceal, a novella that imagines what if Elizabeth confessed to Jane in London that Mr. Darcy proposed in Kent?
A Winter Wrong, the first novella in the Seasons of Serendipity series that imagines what if Mr. Bennet died at the very beginning of Pride and Prejudice?
By Consequence of Marriage, the first novel in the Moralities of Marriage series that wonders what if Mr. Darcy never saved his sister Georgiana from Wickham’s clutches?
Elizabeth Ann West’s Pride and Prejudice variations have enthralled more than 100,000 readers in over 90 countries! A proud member of the Jane Austen Fan Fiction community since the mid-2000s, she hopes you will join her in being happily Darcy addicted!
Chapter 8(cont'd) - A January for Jane, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
“Your son is on his way, Duchess. All shall be well when morning dawns. Please, you must only rest and all shall be well.” Perhaps if she kept repeating the refrain, the Lord would see fit to grant them peace in the morning. Jane prayed and struggled to remain calm as her body’s fight or flight response begged to be heeded.
The united front of the two women appeared to convince the Duchess to get back into the bed, but the sudden appearance of the two footmen sent her over the edge once more. She kicked out and tried to rush towards the door, but the two men grabbed her on Jane’s command.
“Unhand me!” she screeched, “I need the doctor! The doctor, I say!”
Despite a few injuries from the Duchess’ flailing elbows and kicks, Jane and Mrs. Buchanan helped the footmen get her to the bed.
“We must dose her!” Seamus grunted as Jane and Mrs. Buchanan fetched scarves to lash her wrists and ankles without harming her delicate skin.
“NO!” Mrs. Buchanan and Jane shouted in unison.
After securing the Duchess into the bed, the woman stilled. Exhausted and finally feeling the fatigue of the adrenaline leaving her body, Jane sat on the edge of the bed.
“We should let her rest,” Mrs. Buchanan said softly.
“I will not leave her like this. She must rid her body of the demons, but not alone. Never alone.” Jane’s voice spoke softly as a balm to the Duchess’ soul. Silent tears fell from Aileena’s eyes as Jane hushed her and gently ran her fingers through the woman’s hair.
“The men can leave. But I shall stay.” Mrs. Buchanan said firmly, looking to Seamus and Colin who glanced to Miss Bennet for confirmation of the order. But the eldest Bennet sister dwelled entirely consumed with comforting Duchess Hamilton.
“Shoo now,” Mrs. Buchanan walked them to the door and locked it behind them. Miss Bennet was right, this poor woman, Duchess or not, needed the care of other women. She may never be in her right mind again, but it certainly remained worth a try. Thankfully, Lord Hamilton held no dominion over Starvet House to dismiss the staff should this night fail miserably to deliver Miss Bennet’s best intentions.
You’ve been reading A January for Jane
Hiding at Mr. Darcy’s Scottish estate with her orphaned, illegitimate nephew, Jane Bennet begins to fall for Graham Hamilton. Homeless from the fire destroying Blaylock House, Mr. Hamilton has stayed at Starvet House since the Darcys left for London, and is everything a gentleman ought to be. But as his own feelings begin to consume him, he has to break through Jane’s unwillingness to experience any happiness for herself. This bonus novella in the Seasons of Serendipity series explores the love story of Jane Bennet and her Scottish lord!
A sweet, short, romantic read for fans of Jane Austen Fan Fiction!
A January for Jane, Seasons of Serendipity Bride a Pride and Prejudice novella variation series
Release Date: August 22, 2016
94 pages in print.
+ 23 additional Pride & Prejudice variations are available at these fine retailers . . .
A Jane-of-all-trades, mistress to none! Elizabeth Ann West is the author of 8 novels and 11 novellas, 18 of which are story variations of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice.